Majority of Le Monde editorial staff quit in row with management

The majority of the top editorial staff at France’s most prestigious newspaper, Le Monde, have resigned in a dispute with the upper management, Press TV reports.

Seven senior editorial executives of the French daily wrote in an internal letter on Tuesday that “a lack of confidence in and communication with editorial management prevents us from fulfilling our roles as chief editors.”

Difficulties with a new editor-in-chief were cited as the main cause, as was a money-saving merger of its press and internet staff.

Commenting on the resignation of the Le Monde staff, Ben McPartland, from TheLocal.com, an English-language digital news publisher with local editions, said, “It seems like this whole battle to make money is causing corruption, controversy and the staff there are kind of facing it like you would probably see it in another French industry. They are fighting for the jobs, for the livelihood, what they believe in.”

Le Monde is often described as a centrist media, but it is pro-capitalist and its foreign policy coverage is decidedly right-wing. That is why many now put the paper at the center-right among Paris’ diverse range of daily newspapers.

“Back in 10-20 years ago, it was a center-left paper. Now Le Monde is taking a position that even US press would not take on certain issues. It is taking a very Western stance on Ukraine crisis and, kind of, readers are not quite happy with it, so you presume that editorial staff are not happy with it either,” McPartland added.